Since Everybody Said Stephen A Smith's Apology Sucked ESPN Decides They Better Suspsend Him For A Week

Frontrow – On Friday’s First Take, Stephen A. Smith made remarks that spawned controversy in the wake of the NFL’s decision to suspend Baltimore Ravens’ running back Ray Rice for two games following charges of assaulting his then fiancée, now wife, a few months ago. This morning on the show, Smith offered an apology and host Cari Champion also shared her thoughts on the matter (video above).

The following is ESPN’s statement on the matter:

“We will continue to have constructive dialogue on this important topic. Stephen’s comments last Friday do not reflect our company’s point of view. As his apology demonstrates, he recognizes his mistakes and has a deeper appreciation of our company values.”

UPDATE – Tuesday, July 29, 2014, 4:35 p.m. ET: “ESPN announced today that Stephen A. Smith will not appear on First Take or ESPN Radio for the next week. He will return to ESPN next Wednesday.”

Let me decipher this press release for you.

“We really didn’t want to suspend Stephen A Smith. We tried to let him dig himself out of the hole he put himself in. It’s not so much that we are taking a moral stand here because if we were we would have suspended him last week. But unfortunately he didn’t win over public opinion with his apology so now we have no choice but to cover our ass. Therefore it is with a heavy heart we are suspending him for a week so we don’t look like we condone guys who say chicks need to be better at provoking guys not to beat them.”